


#Ask Strange Responses

by ketchupcrisp



Series: you great unfinished symphony (you sent for me) [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - BDSM, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Everyone Is Poly Because Avengers, F/F, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Interactive Fiction, M/M, Multi, Slow Build, Tony Stark-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-30
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2019-09-02 18:29:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16792378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ketchupcrisp/pseuds/ketchupcrisp
Summary: A collection of the #AskStrange responses.





	1. Chapter One Responses

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all! As promised, I've collected the #AskStrange responses posted to Tumblr into a single chapter. This week the Doctor got 2 questions, the first about the Orientation Classification System (OCS) and the second about the outcome of the Infinity War in the MCU verse. 
> 
> Other than a vague resemblance of the OCS to actually existing and heavily critiqued systems like Kinsey, I can't think of any content warnings for these little bits. As always, though, feel free to let me know if you have questions or concerns.

Alright, so **first question** :  
What does category 6 switch mean? How many categories are there? What are the categories of doms and subs? (Sorry that’ll probably end up being a lot of information. :P You don’t have to answer all of it.)

Dr. Strange replied:

Ah, a sensible question about things that matter like how to sort and categorize things. Excellent. Let’s get to it. 

Now, traditionally this universe has ten cateogrizations:  
 **1-3** denotes submissives (with 1 being someone exclusively inclined toward submission)  
 **4-7** denotes switches (the higher the numbers go, the more inclined towards domination that switch is, and vice versa with submission)  
 **8-10** denotes dominants (with 10 representing someone exclusively inclined toward domination)  
*So-called ‘true’ dominants and submissive (those with a 1 or 10 ranking) are extremely rare.

Historically these categorizations were made based entirely on bloodwork (hormone levels spike when an individual turns 14.) However, they are now made based on a combination of physical and social/psychological investigations. Clint Barton was ranked according to the newer system; his ‘6’ represents slightly elevated levels of hormones associated with domination, but it was largely his psychosocial profile that really solidified that classification. 

I should note that in recent decades, there have been broader challenges to the ranking system. Those identifying as ‘un-oriented’ (analogous to an asexual mode of identification in other universes) have begun to rally around calls for legalizing a ‘0’ classification. Trans-oriented individuals, or those whose hormonal make-up is strongly unaligned with their psychosocial orientation, are also lobbying for a change to the classification system that privileges self-identification and makes mandatory hormonal testing optional.

The deceased Tony Stark was a category 1 submissive. And a category 10 dick (though apparently I’m not supposed to vocalize such thoughts about a dead person.)

And **second question** :   
Hello! I have a question for the doctor :D (may have more later, but just one right now) Whatever you can tell us without spoiling would be appreciated. I'm curious as to how the Infinity War ended in the non-bdsm verse, and what situation that verse's Tony is going to be coming out of. #askstrange 

Dr. Strange replied: 

Ah yes. Glad _someone_ is remotely concerned about the fate of the universe. Now, I can’t say much on this topic directly, but I can show you something brief.

“He knew who I was.” It was the first time anyone had broken the silence in hours, and it was a mark of how distressingly used to this new world order Steve had gotten that he was surprised it was Tony. The man didn’t say much these days; oh he worked, just as obsessively as he had when he’d survived down in the workshop for days on a steady stream of energy bars and caffeine. The joy of discovery and creation that had once driven Tony to babble incessantly for minutes or even hours on end, though? That was long gone. Turned to dust, like everything else. “Thanos.”

“So fucking what, Stark. Did he ask for an autograph or something too? You want a congratulations because the Big Bad gave you a personal shout-out?” Clint snapped. He was staring at the pictures of his wife and kids again, Steve knew it without even bothering to look up. That was all Clint did these days, when he wasn’t barking at each of them in turn for not yet having a fully-developed plan to reverse the Snap and its after-effects.

It would have been easy to fall into the same trap as Clint, blinded by anger and grief, and dismiss this as another self-important and largely irrelevant interjection from Tony. But if Steve had learned anything from this whole mess—Ultron, the Accords, Thanos—it was that Tony was almost always coming from someplace good, right, even when his execution ended up terribly flawed. (And those issues with execution were in no small part Steve’s fault; Steve and the rest of the team, who hadn’t ended up as much of team at all to Tony, in the end.)

“When we fought, he didn’t recognize me until about halfway through. When he did, he said my name. Like—like we had a history, like he… _knew_ me. Said I wasn’t the only one ‘cursed with knowledge.”

“If this is another ‘I was right’ speech—”

“Clint, shut _up_.” The harsh words weren’t surprising, there were plenty of those to go around these days. But the fact that it was Natasha barking them while jumping off the piece of wrecked lab-bench she had been sitting on to get right in Barton’s face, that was shocking to pretty much everyone, particularly Clint himself. Tony graced her with a nod and even a small quirk of his lips. (Even in the midst of all of this, Steve spared a heartbeat or two to acknowledge that he was achingly jealous of Nat for that exchange.)

“I think we need to go back further than we thought.”


	2. Chapter Five Responses

**Question #1:  
#AskStrange Hello doctor! I have a question about the status of subs. IIRC, according to the Author, subs are in principle equal to everybody else. However, some elements in the story make me wonder if that's true in practice: Howard's total rejection of Tony's orientation; Tony's hiding it for years; and Pepper's mention that people loved him in part because of his being a sub. Are subs in actuality discouraged from following challenging life paths, and those who do especially admired? **

While the Author is, in many cases, wildly fanciful, on this particular topic she is correct. Submissives, particularly True submissives, are generally very highly regarded. Howard Stark, however…well, perhaps showing you would be more expedient. 

(The Author asks that I provide a content warning for allusions to child neglect, alcohol abuse, and something she calls “Howard Stark’s A+ Parenting.” I can only hope the latter is sarcastic. As annoying as his spawn is, I would not consider Howard Stark a model for adequate parenting.)

****

Tony loved workshop days the most. The rest of the time his Dad had only a few settings: physically gone (searching for Captain America), mentally gone (booze was usually the culprit on these occasions), or emotionally gone. The latter times were the worst, because Howard would be there, right in front of you, and he might even be sober, but he might as well have been thousands of miles away. Those usually happened during the big fundraising events Tony’s Mom put on, though Howard had also been known to check-out during kiddish milestones he considered beneath his son, like piano recitals or elementary school ‘graduations.’ 

He didn’t let Tony down into the workshop very often, either. Tony, he said, was too easily distracted, more likely to break something or taint the results of an experiment than to actually add anything of value. But every once in a while he would find Tony, pull him away from whatever he was doing (which had included school a couple of times, usually leading to screaming matches between Dad and Mom later) and bring him down to the shop. 

The shop was the best place in the world. There was always something incredible happening; Dad would work on new designs for the shield (for when he found Cap), and he’d talk to Tony about vibranium and everything that made it such a unique, unreproduceable substance. Or he’d work on his flying car, which was going to be perfect one day as soon as he stabilized the repulsor technology. Or he’d make new weapons that helped keep kids like Tony safe in their beds at night. Tony liked all of those things, but what he liked most of all was how his Dad was down here: attentive, happy, alive in a way he never really seemed to be anyplace else. 

Today wasn’t exactly the same. Howard hadn’t planned on bringing Tony down here, but one of his regular assistants had needed to go home to attend to his submissive. She was classified at a one, which meant sometimes she had very high needs. Most people talked about subs, especially subs classified that close to True status, in hushed, reverent tones. But when his Dad explained why Damien had had to leave, it didn’t sound like that. He sounded…sorta mad, or grossed out, maybe, like that time Tony had presented Mom with a collection of rare insects. 

“Is it bad? To be a sub like Marnie?” For a long time Howard didn’t answer. And he did have a tendency to ignore questions he thought were beneath him, so Tony had already accepted it and moved on to thinking about something else when Howard sighed and put down the soldering iron he was using. 

“Not…bad, but just. Well, remind me what you know about evolution, Tony.” Obediently, Tony spouted off everything he could remember about monkeys and Darwin and finches and natural selection. Howard gave no visible signs of approval (of course he didn’t, Tony was six, of course he should probably know more than this), but he didn’t yell or demand Tony leave the lab and return with a better answer, so it counted as somewhat of a victory. “Now, would you say it’s a desirable trait for people to need each other as much as True subs and Doms do, Tony? For them to not be able to function, for their muscles to stop responding to their brains and their minds to become frantic, just because they aren’t spending enough time in their headspace?”

Tony has long since learned that sometimes his Dad’s questions are a trap, and this definitely felt like one of those times. Because before now, Tony would have said he thought it sounded kind of nice, the way that different orientations worked together, making individuals stronger together than they were apart. The thought of knowing someone that way, being known in return, he was too young to really know much about the details of what it would entail, but as a concept, the notion that there might be someone out there like that for him had been a comforting fiction on the many days and nights he spent mostly on his own. 

“No?” he guessed. 

“Personally,” Howard continued as if Tony hadn’t spoken (a good sign his had been the right answer), “I think True subs and Doms are uncommon because orientation is a trait that’s just dying out. And in my book that’s a damn good thing. No one should have to rely on anyone like that. People…they disappoint each other. It’s what we do. We hurt each other and leave each other and end up on the bottom of the _goddamn ocean_ , and…well, it’s just better to stand on your own two feet, boy.”

“What…what if when they test me…what if…” Tony trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. He didn’t want to grow up to be disappointed by someone! Or even worse, be a disappointment. He’d done plenty of that already. Howard laughed. 

“What if you’re a True, you mean?” He nodded, and his Dad threw his head back and laughed again, already turning his attention back to his work. “Boy, you got nothin’ to worry about. There hasn’t been a Stark that’s been anything but a middle-scale Switch in decades.” 

That, Tony told himself, was a relief. 

**Question #2  
Ah, a series of questions that happen to include me! A far superior topic than Tony Stark. **

**Will there, at any point, be some in-character acknowledgement of the various MCU... let’s call them “poor choices”?**

I can only assume you refer here to the so-called ‘Civil War.’ (Or to Stark’s affection for Stark Raving Hazlenuts?) In both cases, the answer is most definitely yes. The type of relationship the Avengers must be able to at least convincingly affect to the public would be, to my mind, impossible if their various ‘issues’ from the other universe are not discussed. 

Not that I envy them. Discussing emotions with Tony Stark? Ugh. 

**How are you doing in this universe, Doctor? We’re the Sanctuaries still attacked? Do you have administrative support? Running a planetary magical defense network seems like it would make you too busy to pick up the mail and the groceries, even if you got to collaborate or team-teach with alternate-universe versions of yourself. Who I am not sure you’d actually like, competent and professional though you all are. Not everybody gets along well with themselves.**

The sanctuaries, while facing minor attempts at invasion, never incurred the same degree of damage in this verse, no. Loathe though I am to admit it, this is in large part because the Titan never got the chance to collect the infinity stones. He was eliminated from play early on thanks to the Ultron technology. 

Sadly, I am still forced to supply my own groceries. Wong never purchases the right kinds of cheese. 

**Actually, trying to think of other characters got me massively distracted by “what on earth would Wade Wilson’s classification be? Or Venom’s? And how would the X-men integrate into what MCU tweaked about the Maximoffs?”**  
On principal I refuse to devote any mental energies to Wade Wilson. He once attempted to ‘ship’ me with my own cloak I am too distracted by even attempting to consider his orientation to attend to the rest of this question. 

**Finally, Doctor, are you able to say if any Marvel characters not in the main MCU will be present, either as background reference, cameo, or other role?**  
There do seem to be a few characters from what the Author refers to as the ‘comics-canon’ floating around. While most will not have major influences over the plot, I do anticipate their being mentioned and occasionally cropping up.


	3. Chapter Six Response

**Hello Doctor, firstly thanks for your answers, even when the topic of the questions is not enjoyable/interesting for you. I'll have to admit to a morbid curiosity about what happened with Wade Wilson and your cloak, but I wouldn't want to put you ill at ease. So here is a still personal but hopefully less charged question: what's yourclassification in this verse? If that's not too indiscreet of course.**

I would need something with at least the strength of Asgardian mead to be willing to discuss Wade Wilson. However, personal questions in general are perfectly fine; I can hardly blame you for finding me compelling. In this universe I was initially classified as a category 8 dominant. After becoming sorcerer supreme, however, my classification shifted slightly (a rare but not unheard of response to sustained interactions with magic in various forms.) I am now a category 6 switch.


	4. Chapter Seven Response

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Major Content Warnings for this Ask Strange response: This chapter depicts D/s Steve in the immediate aftermath of D/s Tony's death. There is nothing overly graphic about the conditions of Tony's demise itself beyond a mention of the Avalon protocol. (This is a theory originating (I believe? correct me if I'm wrong on this) from fandom that Tony likely has protocols in the suit allowing it to keep fighting in the event of his death, and not inform the team until after the immediate danger has passed.) While it isn't explicitly stated here, BTW, my headcanon is that Tony had actually meant to take this protocol out of the suits and just didn't get around to it in time; he was not being deliberately cruel to Steve or anyone else. 
> 
> As you might imagine, Steve is raw and broken and overwhelmed here. If you need to give this response a miss, please feel free to do so. Its only function plot-wise is to confirm that D/s Tony is indeed dead.

**hi Doctor! thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. I don't recall seeing this in the story so far (although I may just have missed it, in which case, apologies for taking up your time), and it may be too spoilery, but can you talk a bit about how Mark 2 (aka D/s Tony) died? I tend to be suspicious, and I've found that just because other people in a story believe somebody is dead, that isn't necessarily the case. :D**

Ah yes. While it is a very Stark-like thing to do, the dying-but-not-really-dying shtick, I'm afraid this universe's version of Tony Stark is indisputably deceased. But no need to take my word for it: take a look for yourself: 

*

“Get up.” 

It wasn’t the first time a member of the team had tried to appeal to Steve. In the last two hours alone Natasha, Thor, and Phil had all attempted to get him to leave Tony’s workshop. Natasha’s had, unsurprisingly, been the harshest approach; she’d reminded Steve in no uncertain terms that as the team’s leader, he had responsibilities beyond his own grief. Thor had, equally predictably, been the gentlest. He’d spoken of what it was to face the prospect of living for millennia, to know that not just individual people but entire civilizations could live and die in that time. Coulson had taken the middle ground, speaking not of himself but of Tony. Tony Stark, he’d reminded Steve, had been above all else a futurist, a man committed to looking forward and not back. He wouldn’t want Steve wasting away in the bowels of the Tower, unwilling to face the world. 

None of it had worked. Because Steve himself didn’t want to be down here. It was unbearable to be surrounded by such a dearth of evidence that Tony had been alive so recently—the open holoscreens, the dunce hat he’d left on Dummy that morning, the half-diassembled upgrade to a piece of War Machine’s left shoulder that lay on top of one of the long tables. (Tony would never finish it. Would never complete any more projects, or go to that gala next week on Steve’s arm. Wouldn’t ever fight alongside Steve, or kiss him when the battle was over and both of their systems were still surging with adrenaline. He’d never _anything_ , not ever again.) The only thing more unendurable than staring at all of these traces of Tony in this space that he’d loved best in the world was the thought of leaving and returning to find them all carefully hidden away, like Tony had never existed in the first place. 

“Stevie.” 

“Go away, Buck,” he muttered dully. Once upon a time Steve never would have thought himself capable of speaking to Bucky this way. Even though things would never be the same as they had been before Bucky’s fall and his subsequent time as the Soldier, Steve treated their end of the line promise as a near-sacred vow. (Not unlike the one he’d made to himself to protect Tony from anything and everything that might seek to harm him. Apparently he’d be failing everyone who mattered to him in one day.)

“Steve, you need to see him.” Steve didn’t bother responding at all to that heart-stoppingly cruel demand, but this didn’t stop Bucky from reaching down and pulling Steve to his feet. As soon as he was level Steve took a swing at the other man, and not the careful, restrained blows he hit the team with during training. He put nearly all of his strength behind it—but he hadn’t counted on the impact of this much pain combined with its physical symptoms (especially dehydration.) He swung wide, overbalancing to try to keep himself steady, and Bucky made easy work of catching Steve’s arm, pressing it against his back and shoving him against a wall. “We done with this now or you wanna go another coupla rounds, Stevie?” 

“Fuck you,” he grunted, trying and failing to sweep Bucky’s legs out from under him. Bucky pressed him harder into the unforgiving concrete, his breath hot and fast against Steve’s neck. (Tony would be cold by now.)

“You need to see him. I’m not trying to hurt you, goddammit Steve, but I know you. If you don’t see his body you’ll convince yourself in a few weeks, a few months on the outside, that he’s somehow still alive. That this has all been some kind of terrible mistake. And the fact that it’s Tony and he’s been declared dead before, not to mention how generally insane our lives are with shit like this…that’ll feed the denial. You’ll be waiting for him around every corner, sure you're about to hear him laugh, see him smile.” 

“Then _let me hope_! Is that so fucking terrible? I have lost—everything, Bucky, over and over again. I used to think of myself as a dancing monkey, a puppet in this silly nationalistic show—annoying, sure, but ultimately worth it because it got me where I needed to go. But Captain America is so much worse than that. The serum…all it’s ever brought anyone is death. Erskine, you, Peggy, all of our friends, and now—and now…please. If you’re right, then just let me have the hope, alright? It’s gotta be better than this.”

Somewhere in the middle of Steve’s rambled plea, Bucky’s restraining grasp had turned into more of an embrace. (For the briefest and most shameful seconds of his life, he hated the other man for not being Tony Stark.) 

“I can’t do that, Stevie. I made a promise.” 

“We’ve never—”

“Not to you. To Tony.” Especially given how Tony had died (the Avalon protocol, Steve might never forgive him that even in death) it shouldn’t have surprised Steve that Tony had prepared for this moment. Tony’s orientation had never once made him afraid or unwilling to go behind Steve’s back, or right in front of his face, and do what he thought was right. (Beautiful, insolent, _perfect_ submissive.) “He made me promise, Stevie, that if there was even a shred of hope left that I wouldn’t let you give up. I swore that if he was missing, or if the evidence we were given could have more than one meaning, that we’d never stop looking, never abandon him to something like what he faced in Afghanistan.” (Tony had dreamed of that cave just a few nights before, curling into Steve’s chest and begging for assurance that he’d really made it out.) “I also swore that when it was over, without any doubt or possibility that he could be saved, I would be the one to take you in to see him. Even if it made you hate me. I promised that man, that man we _both_ loved, that I would force you to see him with your own stubborn eyes, so that one day you’ll be able to accept it. And Stevie…I know you. However lapsed your relationship to religion and all of that is now…you’ll never forgive yourself if you don’t tell him goodbye.” (Goodbye. How could he ever hope to say something so mundane and final to someone as singularly remarkable as Tony? There had to be something better, some way for language to accommodate the immensity of what they had lost.) 

Steve said what he did next because he had to. Because Bucky had to understand that little Stevie Rogers, the one who could do this all day, get up as many times as he’d been hit, no matter how brutally, had died right alongside their submissive. He didn’t know yet who had taken his place, but if he was to be stripped utterly of the right to hope, he wouldn’t permit the team to imagine he was capable of making it out of this with his soul remotely intact. 

“I’m not gonna make you break a promise to him. But don’t kid yourself, Buck; I will _never_ accept this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even though I had a version of this scene outlined ages ago, it still kind of broke me to write it. 
> 
> In happier news, there will be new chapters for you great unfinished symphony _and_ my other active series tomorrow. Hooray! Here's to (hopefully) being back on a regular posting schedule after a couple rough weeks.


	5. Chapter Eleven Response

Prompt: **OH! Also #AskStrange PLEASE tell me more about Ultron's ethics training. *puts on nerd hat***

I've unearthed a draft version of the syllabus Drs. Stark and Banner used for the course and provided it below. While they undoubtedly should have taken more of my suggestions, the end result was...admirable.

# Ethical Intelligence: A Study in Artifical Intelligence, Morality and Humanity

Department of Research and Development, Stark Industries  
Instructor: Drs. Bruce Banner and Tony Stark  
Office: Stark Tower, Workshop Level B-21  
Email: big_green@starkindustries.com  
Office Hours: Wednesday, 5:00-7:00 or by appointment 

Keep this course outline with your class notes. You will need to refer to it frequently for important information on reading, assignments, exams, grading practices, and class policy. 

**Course Description and Aims**  
The existence of the Ultron technology is predicated on the supposition that artificial intelligence can and, under the correct circumstances should, be regarded as sentient and feeling beings capable of meaningful contributions to global security, communication, and wellness. However, this recognition also necessitates an understanding of the system’s moral and ethical responsibilities to other beings. 

Using a range of philosophical, cultural studies, humanities computing and feminist/critical race scholarship, as well as popular culture case-studies, this course explores the obligations humans and machines hold to one another. Core themes of the course include an exploration of pain and empathy, shared responsibility, and acting within a context. By exploring this topic from such a wide array of directions and perspectives, our aim is to present human-machine interaction not as a singular script or process, but as a dynamic and ongoing relationship shaped by mutual respect, shared goals, and informed decision making. 

To this end, our general course objectives will focus on:

  * **Understanding Context** -AIs will learn how to identify the social, political, geographic and economic contexts that shape the data they gather, and also how to establish a context for their own communication.
  * **Participation in Critical Dialogue** -AIs will learn how to treat their interactions with and about humans and other AI systems not as one-way deliveries of information, but as an ongoing conversation. This will involve an emphasis on the development of shared and accessible forms of communication.
  * **Evaluating Risk and Reward in Global Security Scenarios** -AIs will learn how to efficiently and safely participate in decision-making about global security scenarios.
  * **Ethical Design** -AIs who have completed this course as well as a probationary period will eventually gain limited access to their programming. As such, this course includes a unit on incorporating ethical decisions into AI design.

**Course Policies and Structure**

Required Texts  
The readings we’re examining in this course can be found freely online, or using Dr. Stark’s institutional credentials at MIT. As this is a course dealing with a range of genres and media formats, we may periodically be viewing films or media clips. These count as core, required texts and will be addressed in essays and other in-class writing activities. 

Exam  
There is no final examination in this course, because it’s bad pedagogy ( ~~and Tony doesn’t want to grade them~~.) Instead, AIs will complete a capstone project involving an annotated bibliography, a written report about a case study, and a mock security scenario presentation in which the AI will have to respond in real-time to a pre-determined situation relevant to their research.

Assessment  
Summary 15% Short Essay 20%  
Proposal and Bibliography (10%)  
Case Study (35%)  
Further information and instructions about all assignments will be posted to Stark Secure Servers far in advance of the assignment deadlines.

Evaluation Criteria and Grading  
Students will be offered letter grades for all assignments in this course. Please review the MIT conversion chart for grade value equivalencies. You will be given substantive commentary on most assignments and that commentary will explain the grade and highlight areas and means for improvement.

Assignment Submission  
All assignments will be submitted electronically to the Stark Secure Server by 11:59 PM on the stated due-date. Completed assignments should follow CSE formatting.

Academic Honesty  
Stark Industries is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. AIs are urged to familiarize themselves with samples of University Codes of Student Behaviour (freely available online at any major institution) and avoid any behaviour which could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence, and a violation of the central themes of the course.

Term Work Reassessment  
Should you have any grievances concerning term work grades, you must discuss your concerns with the instructor. If the problem is not resolved after that a meeting with the instructor, AIs are encouraged to direct concerns to J.A.R.V.I.S., who will make the final decision on all grading disputes.

Reading Schedule

**Week One: Introduction**

Introduction to the Course, Ultron System Activation Tests

**Week Two: Current Human/Machine Relations and Dilemmas**

Summary Due

Justin Leiber, “Can Animals and Machines Be Persons?”

Neil M. Richards and William D. Smart. “How Should the Law Think About Robots?”

Cynthia Breazl and Rodney Brooks, “Robot Emotion: A Functional Perspective.”

D. Chalmers. “The Singularity: A Philosophical Analysis. “ _Journal of Consciousness Studies._

**Week Three: Obligations and Ethical Co-Existence**

Judith Butler, “Precarious Life: The Obligations of Proximity.” (Available through the Nobel Prize Museum, [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJT69AQtDtg))

Sustan Sontag. _Regarding the Pain of Others._

Ronald Sandler (ed.) _Ethics and Emerging Technologies._

James H. Moor. _Four Kinds of Ethical Robots._

“The Trolley Problem.” _The Good Place._

**Week Four: Context and Values**

“Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “The Dangers of a Single Story.” Ted Talk, available [here](https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en))

“Harry Surden. “Values Imbedded in Legal Artificial Intelligence.” _University of Colorado Law Legal Studies Research Paper_

“Cathy O’Neil. _Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy._

**Week Five: The Limits of Data as Knowledge and the Importance of Collaboration**

Short Essay Due

John Searle. “What Your Computer Can’t Know.” 

Davide Valeriani, “Humans and Machines Can Improve Accuracy When They Work Together.” 

Geoffrey C. Bowker and Susan Leigh Star. _Sorting Things Out: Classification and its Consequences._

Dave Gershgorn, “If AI is Going to be the World’s Doctor, It Needs Better Books.” 

Guest speaker: ~~Dr. Stephen Strange~~ (Tony, stop crossing his name out! He’s doing us a favour here.)

**Week Five: Design**

Karen Hao. “Giving Algorithms a Sense of Uncertainty Could Make Them More Ethical.” 

Heather Knight, “How Humans Respond to Robotics: Building Public Policy Through Good Design.” 

Video. “The Ethical Robot.” Available [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pajCoSTGvas)

Guest Speaker: Dr. Helen Cho 

**Week Six: AI and Global Security**

Dudu Mimran, “The Cyberspace Arms Race: Artificial Intelligence and Cyber Security.” 

E. Yudkowsky, “Artificial Intelligence as a Positive and Negative Factor in Global Risk.” In _Global Catastrophic Risks, eds. Nick Bostrom and Milian M. Cirkovic._

B.J. Strawser, “Moral Predators: The Duty to Employ Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles.” _Journal of Military Ethics_

Guest Speaker: Col. James Rhodes

**Week Six: Application Practice**

Proposal and Bibliography Due

AIs will spend this meeting reviewing and responding scenarios on The Moral Machine (linked [here](http://moralmachine.mit.edu/)) as well as the case studies compiled by the instructors in the course. 

**Week Seven: Security Presentation**

Case Study Due





	6. Chapter Fourteen Responses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Notes: The second of the Doctor's responses contains mention (not graphic) of recurring miscarriages and struggles with fertility. 
> 
> That second response also contains some Endgame spoilers and some super crucial divergences from that movie, as well as a stretching of some of the rules the movie establishes surrounding how the Soul Stone works.

**For Ask Strange , did MCU Tony have Harley and Peter and Morgan? Would they miss him? Did this world's Tony have them?**

The version of Tony Stark we see in this narrative never resumed a romantic relationship with Pepper Potts following their break-up after the events leading to the creation of Ultron. As such, Morgan Stark was never born. 

Both Peter Parker and Harley Keener, however, remained a presence in his life. I have witnessed firsthand the fact that both mourn him deeply. Colonel Rhodes and Ms. Potts have been charged with their care in his absence (not legally or officially, but via elaborate ‘Care and Feeding’ documents Mr. Stark ensured were part of his will), and they are both doing the best they can. Truthfully (and I hope I can trust you to keep this quiet) I do feel I owe Stark as much protection as I can give to those he considers his own, so I am doing what I can for both boys from a distance. 

**If you're not too busy protecting our reality (thanks for that, by the way) and have time to answer questions, I'm so, so very curious as to what led to MCU Tony ending up in the D/s universe and how it effects the outcome of events in the MCU 'verse. Rather, what actions landed Tony in an alternate universe and to what end? Was it an accident, intentional or some combination of the two? He seemed pretty sure he was dead at first which is telling, but we're talking about Tony Stark here so anything's possible.**

Your gratitude is much appreciated. While I am unable to share all of the events that landed the so-called MCU Tony in the D/s universe, this glimpse should prove to be particularly enlightening. 

****  
Tony didn’t go into Howard’s notes looking for it. He wanted that made clear, even if he never re-told this story outside his own head. Originally, he’d been creeping around this corridor only because a comedy of errors worthy of a sugar-high Dummy had prevented he and Steve from gaining access to the Tessaract for several days. One time there had been too many people around; during another attempt everyone present in SHIELD HQ had been evacuated and searched because Pym had found out about the missing particles. (Thank god Steve had apparently learned some subterfuge since his days of hiding sensitive intel in vending machines; no one had suspected the two new guys.) As a result of Pym’s (admittedly justified) paranoia following that episode, a lot of the more sensitive tech had been moved to a new location: a private but rarely used laboratory of Howard Stark’s. 

Tony also wanted it known that he overcame a lot of temptation when he’d finally managed to break in. Howard’s notes on his contributions to the super-solider project were there, for fuck’s sake. Tony could have finally figured out what the hell Vita-Rays were, or whether St—Rogers had been pulling his leg about that portion of the experiments all along. And Tony had walked by them, determined to stay focused and avoid any of the catastrophes that tended to be the result of allowing his curiosity free reign. 

When Tony had finally found the Tesseract inside a safe keyed to Maria Stark’s birthday (a sentimental detail he was still surprised by), it had not been alone. There had been another notebook. He’d taken it out because it had been stored with the case, so it had seemed logical to assume that whatever was inside was related to the power stone. (Plus, if Tony was being entirely honest, he still got kind of a thrill over encountering bits of his dad’s handwriting. A stupid, sentimental thing he should have grown out of by now, but losing a parent young did things to you.) 

Except that when Tony opened the book, it barely looked like Howard Stark’s machine-precise handwriting. It was messy and frantic, the letters smudging and running into one another and drifting suddenly off the lines. Howard did many things drunk, but keeping written records wasn’t usually one of them. There was something different about this book. Tony knew that before he realized that the messy sketch on the first page was of a uterus. 

“Oh Jesus, Dad, do I want to keep reading this?” No one answered, of course, but talking out loud made it slightly less horrifying to make it through his dear old Dad’s notes on human reproduction. The first few pages were at least fairly general, describing what made for an optimal uterine climate, what the acceptable range for sperm motility for conception was, and records of what Tony was fairly certain were records of early experiments with IVF. (At least he _hoped_ they were just records of others’ experiments. Howard had been good at many things, but to the best of Tony’s knowledge reproductive biology had not been one of them.) The fourth page was where things started to become horribly clear. It contained a list of five dates, all in the mid-late 1960s. Beside each one were more dates, this time in weeks. _8 weeks. 6 weeks. 14 weeks. 9 weeks. 10 weeks._ Next to the last one was a large amber stain that Tony was certain was whiskey. 

It was a list of miscarriages. Maria and Howard Stark had lost five children, the last roughly 4 months before Tony would have been conceived. 

Tony didn’t want to turn the page. He didn’t want to imagine a man he had laughed and joked with just this afternoon in this much pain, and he definitely didn’t want to let himself wonder how Howard still could have ended up feeling so indifferent towards his own son when he’d fought so hard to help bring Tony into the world.

He did turn it, and things got so much worse. There was a different sketch, this one of a circular orange object. Underneath, in printing so messy it took Tony close to two minutes to decipher, Howard had written ‘The God Stone.’ The next page elaborated on this rather melodramatic title, which turned out to perhaps not be nearly dramatic enough.

_Stone recovered in Wakanda during routine mining of Vibranium. The Wakandans do not appear to have knowledge it was there; arrived with the shipment used to create Steve his shield._

_Have exposed Stone to extreme heat, cold, as well as numerous stress tests for durability. It appears virtually indestructible, and appears to emit a form of energy that I cannot accurately measure or gauge. But I can feel it. And I’m obsessed. Can’t eat, can’t sleep, not until I find out what it does._

There were pages and pages of experiments that grew increasingly desperate. And then Howard had apparently cracked the case…by taking a nap. 

_Fell asleep holding the Stone. Woke to find myself in an unfamiliar landscape; it was so obviously a dream, and yet nothing like one. I was still holding the Stone, and a voice spoke to me, hard and bitter and unyielding. It told me the Stone required sacrifice. If it was to give life, I must first lose that which I loved. I tried to reason with it. I already have lost so much, Maria and I have been trying for so long…it wasn’t interested._

_In my other hand, Cap’s shield appeared. I stood on the brink of a precipice, and I knew without any explanation: if I released the shield, Captain Steve Rogers would be lost to me forever. I would never find him. If I did not, Maria and I would never have a living child._

_I let it fall, clattering over the side of the cliff and down into an endless darkness. I woke screaming, and sure of precisely what I would need to do. The Stone had shown me how to use it. I should have been elated, and yet I already wonder if I’ve made a mistake. I could have gotten Steve back this way. Even if he’s dead, I’m certain the stone could bring him back._

That last regretful note was dated right around the time that Tony would have been conceived. Or could he really call what had apparently brought him into the world conception, when really he was a product of the Soul Stone as much as Howard and Maria Stark? 

A heaviness settled on Tony. It wasn’t learning that Howard had chose him over Steve and immediately regretted it; that was actually a relief. Tony had been doomed to disappoint Howard Stark before he had ever even been born. It was nothing he could ever have controlled or fixed if he’d just said or done something different. For once, Tony’s Daddy issues were not even close to his biggest problem.

Like a good futurist, he simply knew now what was going to happen next. There was no way to change it, even if the past decade of fighting and clawing and scratching his way to survival hadn’t made Tony weary beyond measure. He was a part of the Stones, could never have existed without them, probably should never have existed at all. The best he could hope at this point was that when the gauntlet came to him (and it would, he knew that now regardless of the team’s current plan to have Bruce/Hulk handle it) Tony would make it count.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eek. Hope you all liked it. For those interested, MCU Tony's storyline was inspired by a pre-Infinity War fan theory about Tony having ties to the Soul Stone. Even though they turned out to be horribly wrong I loved those theories, and I wanted to experiment with what it might have meant for them to be right while still keeping some aspects of Endgame relatively intact. The storyline is also inspired by the Iron Man comics. Without getting too spoilery for those who want to read them, Howard and Maria Stark's troubles conceiving are canonical.


	7. Chapter Sixteen Responses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These replies include some details about how Dom and sub drop work in the D/s universe. If you want to skip that, stop reading after the first reply.

**So, this hasn’t officially been an Ask Strange request, but a few folks have asked for alternative perspectives where team members have reacted to finding out about things their MCU counterparts have been up to. This vision of the Doctor’s will set up that series; if there are specific things you’d like to see the team responding to in follow-ups, you can let either myself or Doctor Strange know.**

Though the stiff formality of Tony’s request for an appointment had given him pause, Phil is ultimately grateful for the warning it provides about the other man’s arrival. While what he was doing was not technically illegal or unethical, his actions also weren’t something we would have chosen to advertise to Tony. 

With a harried gesture, he closed all the open windows containing evidence of his (well, the team’s, really, but Phil was the one in charge of keeping the records up to date) current project: piecing together the pieces of this new version of Tony Stark’s life. 

It hadn’t actually been Coulson’s idea, though he really should have thought of it. No, it had taken Bucky Barnes storming into Phil’s office a few weeks ago to set things in motion. Furious and devastated in equal measures, Barnes had ranted for close to an hour about learning that while his counterpart had still killed Howard and Maria Stark, Tony’s version of Steve had chosen not to inform of this fact, resulting in a physical altercation that had left Tony half dead at Steve’s hands. 

Phil’s first reaction had nearly been to laugh. It was utterly absurd, unthinkable, to imagine. Particularly after he and Tony had first gotten together, it had been all Steve could do to push past his Dominant instincts to protect and shield in order to strike Tony during training exercises. They’d worked through it, of course, because Tony would never have stood for team leader taking it easy on him, but still the notion of a Steve willing to incapacitate Tony, compounding the unspeakable error he’d already made by concealing vital information from Tony sounded like a version of Steve Rogers that Phil would have had very little interest in knowing. (A few weeks ago Phil never would have thought such a thing possible, which was a mark of just how bizarre this other universe seemed to be.) 

“It just…none of it makes any _sense_ ,” Phil had ranted, forgetting momentarily that as Bucky’s handler it was his job to be listening, not adding to the other man’s stress. “And it’s not like I expected him to drop his life story at our feet, but getting it in bits and pieces like this just makes it all the more challenging to put it all together into something coherent. Steve texted me something from Wakanda the other day about watching that no one makes any gestures or comments that would suggest a willingness to try to _choke_ Tony, which—” Bucky growled, low and guttural, an echo of the ugly feeling that that message had left churning in Phil’s gut. And when Bucky spoked, the clipped, harsh tone of his voice suggested hints of the Solider.

“Need system.” 

“What kind of system?”

“Keep track of intel. Construct a timeline once there’s enough to go on.” 

It felt wrong, in some ways, the idea that Bucky was proposing. They were treating Tony like a mission or a mark about whom they needed to secretly gather intel. Even if the methods were similar, though, the goal wasn’t the same. None of them were in this to force Tony to share more than he wanted, or to somehow hurt him with this information; just the opposite. If they didn’t want to risk unnecessarily triggering Tony, or force the man to constantly repeat memories that were at times deeply painful, then everyone needed to have access to the same information at the same time. 

With JARVIS’s help, creating the actual system turned out to be the easy part. What Phil hadn’t anticipated about this plan was the fact that it effectively turned him into the team’s priest/therapist/confidante as it pertained to all things regarding Tony Stark’s other (far inferior, they had universally decided) team. 

Steve was the first to come in. He still wouldn’t reveal how he’d managed to gather any background at all about Tony while he’d been on the other side of the world, but he reported that the development of Ultron (which all of them had been able to gather from Tony’s rather extreme reaction had ended rather badly) had coincided with mental attacks from the Scarlet Witch that Tony had never been asked about and had never elected to share with his team. Tony had also revealed that the wound on his abdomen, which Bruce had reported to all of them, had been caused by Thanos stabbing Tony with a piece of his own armour. 

Phil had thanked Steve and sent him on his way, aware that Tony seemed to be about the last thing Steve wanted to discuss these days. (At least he was in the Tower now. It was a step forward, however small.)

Natasha came a few days later. She’d insisted on reviewing the information Phil had already compiled, keen eyes roving over the screen seeking out patterns and connections that just weren’t there to make yet. He could feel her frustration, felt it himself every time Tony responded differently than they expected or said something that just didn’t quite make sense. 

“The first thing I should say is that he told me something in confidence, and I won’t be sharing that until he gives me permission to do so.” And if that wasn’t enough to make the intense curiosity that made Phil so good at his job go haywire…but what else could he do but agree? 

“As long as your assessment is that that information does not mean he is at any risk of harming himself or others, I have no objection. We’re all going to develop individual relationships with Tony that might not mature at exactly the same pace.”

Natasha had then reported, in the flattened tones Phil recognized from plenty of after-action debriefs, that in Tony’s world he had faced the Mandarin alone, with some aid from Colonel Rhodes. (No wonder Tony always looked to his friend so much in this world; increasingly it sounded like Rhodes and Pepper had been his only constants.) Phil added that under the category that specifically tracked divergences in major Avengers-level threats, right below ‘didn’t know Steve was head of SHIELD until told.’

“He shouldn’t have been alone.” Natasha herself had seemed surprised by her words, and the fierceness of the outburst; given that it was the first time Coulson had ever seen any kind of emotion creep through when Natasha was in mission-mode, he couldn’t blame her. But it left Phil feeling warm and satisfied to see such concrete evidence that Natasha was growing attached to Tony, protective even. 

“He won’t be again, Natasha. I can’t promise much when it comes to him; things are too new, there are so many variables…but I give you my word that he will never be alone again.” 

Phil was not a man who made promises. If love, as Natasha so often claimed, was for children, then promises were for the kinds of adults who were practically begging to be manipulated, who valued the illusion of assurance over accuracy and truth. They weren’t in the business of promises. He had only ever made one before that day, when he’d recklessly sworn to a young Clint Barton who had been bleeding out in a forest after a mission gone horribly wrong that Phil would bring him home safely. Natasha was the only other person in the Tower who knew that story, who was aware what a promise from Phil Coulson meant. 

Now he would have to live up to it. The second Natasha exited his office, he was staring back at the information they had collected with renewed focus. (What the hell happened to you, Tony?)

**#AskStrange Hey Doc! Was wondering if you could give us some insight on exactly how subdrops work and what causes them in this alternate universe? Do subdrops work in the same why they would in the MCU, usually happening after an endorphin crash after an intense scene or it’s something more emotional and mental? Maybe a little of both? Thanks!**

Ah, excellent. Another question rooted in science and reasoning. Sub-drop in the D/s universe is fairly similar to that of the so-called MCU. Endorphins play a huge role in both; the corresponding physical symptoms of a sharp endorphin crash (decrease in body temperature, tremors, and feelings of fatigue) are thus common indicators of subdrop in both universes.

The major distinction between the two universes is the presence of the hormones subtonin and Dominin in the D/s universe. The hyperstimulation of the a submissive’s anterior cingulate cortex (which, as Dr. Banner outlined in the sixth chapter, produces an intense desire to please others) can last for up to 24-72 hours, so most submissive need to remain close to their Dominants, particularly after an intense scene. They also require varying levels of praise and assurance. In the absence of these things, the submissive may experience a severe panic response, or attempt increasingly dangerous ways of proving themselves to the Dominant. 

Likewise, the hyper stimulation of a Dominant’s amygdala means that if they feel they have failed to provide adequately for a submissive, they are prone to depressive episodes and other severe emotional responses.


End file.
